


Encore

by zenonaa



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 09:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18466606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: '“I want to perform a piece while... while it’s fresh in my mind,” she says. “I won’t be able to go to sleep until I’ve played it. Please, Saihara-kun.”She doesn’t raise her voice.“Sleep...?” Shuichi shuffles his weight as he squirms. Her face is earnest. It sounds important. “Um... I would be happy to listen to it?”'Shuichi has a visitor in the middle of the night.





	Encore

As Shuichi rouses, thoughts trickle through the fog of sleep shrouding his mind. In general, his dorm room is dimly lit and has a dour, rustic atmosphere, with its washed out ornate wallpaper and old-fashioned wooden furniture. During the day, the fireplace burns bright, a splash of colour among grim shades of brown, but he puts it out at night before he retires to his bed. 

Thick curtains block out most light coming in through the windows, so at first, he can’t judge the time of day apart from by how very tired he feels. When he swallows, the noise crackles loudly in an otherwise silent room.

The bed shifts. Shuichi opens his eyes fully with a start. That hadn’t been him. He hadn’t moved that much.

Indeed. Kaede stares down at him, straddling him on all fours.

“What...?” he mumbles, squinting. 

She multiples in his vision briefly before focusing into a single entity, and he deduces that it is Kaede definitely staring down at him. Now the realisation sinks in. 

Shuichi yelps and thrashes as he wiggles back.

“W-What!?” he splutters, wide-eyed. “A-Akamatsu-san, what are you...?”

“... doing here?” she finishes for him, smiling slightly.

“I... Yes!” Shuichi says. He sits up, pressing his back against the board of his bed. 

Kaede remains on her hands and knees, wearing her pink sweater vest and purple wine skirt patterned with notes of a melody that he doesn’t know. Of course she’s wearing that. She was wearing it before.

“You seem surprised,” she notes aloud.

“Of course I am! You appeared over me all of a sudden,” he tells her. In contrast to her gentle voice, his heart beats rowdy and fierce. He places a hand over it.

The corners of her lips rise, just a little, and her shoulders give a shake as she laughs silently.

“Sorry. It’s just... I really want to show you something,” she says, lacking her usual chirpiness.

In the past minute, she hasn’t spiked a single strong emotion, but he only notices this now. Shuichi blinks. Fortunately, his lack of response seems to qualify as she gives a curt nod.

“I want to perform a piece while... while it’s fresh in my mind,” she says. “I won’t be able to go to sleep until I’ve played it. Please, Saihara-kun.”

She doesn’t raise her voice.

“Sleep...?” Shuichi shuffles his weight as he squirms. Her face is earnest. It sounds important. “Um... I would be happy to listen to it?”

“Thanks, Saihara-kun,” she says, and she crawls back, getting off the bed. As she turns away, she beckons to him.

He doesn’t budge, even though she obviously wants him to follow. She faces him again and puts her hands on her hips, puffing out her cheeks in a cute way.

“Come on, Saihara-kun,” she whines, acting more like the Kaede he knows. Her plum-colour eyes pull on him.

Shuichi twitches and lurches forward. “Ah! I’m coming...”

While Kaede’s research lab also boasts a lot of wooden furnishing, large windows gape light from outside. At this time of night, the Moon beams in, highlighting the scuffs in the flooring where it kisses it with light. He doesn’t stray far from the door, lingering behind as Kaede strides further in. She steps up to the platform that her piano stands on, then rests her hand on it and looks over at him. 

That small, wistful smile of hers seems to have become a permanent fixture on her face.

“What should I wear?” she asks Shuichi.

Her eyes pierce him. He jolts and scratches his cheek.

“Um... what you have on is fine, right?” he says.

She huffs and squares her shoulders at him.

“Fine? That’s like what you’d call an omelette,” she says, and she heaves a sigh. “Here...”

Kaede grabs the bottom of her vest top and pulls it over her head. At this point, Shuichi realises what she’s doing and lets out a shout as he covers his face with both hands. Shuichi hears her give a hum of amusement. Presumably, she’s getting undressed in front of him, but he doesn’t check. While he can control that, against his will, his mind conjures a visual of her silhouette, like he’s seeing her through a waterfall, seeing her push down on the back of her shoes and slide her feet out of them. He imagines her slip off her long socks and loosen her tie. Then, she unbuttons her shirt, and - 

His body trembles. Shuichi shouldn’t be imagining this. Especially as...

“Ah, Saihara-kun, can you do my zip up?” she asks, breaking through his walls.

He peeks between his fingers. Kaede has her back angled toward him and now dons a strapless gown that he hadn’t seen when he entered the room. It seems like a combination of two different dresses. The body of the gown as well as half the skirt is a lighter purple and ruffled, while the other half of the skirt, around her left leg, is darker and smoother with a black trim. Gloves the same colour as the main body of her gown reach almost all the way up her arms, and she paws at a zip on her back that isn’t done all the way up.

“S-Sure,” he says, trying not to cough as he speaks. He gulps and comes forward, grabbing the zip. It’s harder to draw up than it looks, but with some tugging, Shuichi manages to do it up properly.

Kaede turns to him fully, revealing a big bow on the front of her gown.

“Thank you,” she says warmly. “I can play now.”

He needs a moment, then after she still hasn’t moved, he gets the message and backs away. There’s a chair waiting for him nearby and he sits on it, hands clasped together on his lap. Kaede takes a seat at her piano, flexes her fingers and starts to play.

The music tinkles, individual notes popping out at first, but as the piece progresses, it becomes more streamless and soars as it laps around the room. Shuichi imagines two birds circling a beach on a clear day that gradually spiral closer and closer, descending on a fixed point. In this case, it’s him, and the music winds around Shuichi, tighter and tighter, trapping him in a coil, and he watches Kaede, unaware if he’s breathing or not.

More entrancing than the music that fills his head is the sight of Kaede herself. Her fingers dance over the keys, fluidly and casually but each note is deliberate. She plays with her eyes half-open, a calm mask over her face. Time doesn’t feel like it goes faster, or slower, but like it doesn’t exist at all. With every note, his chest clenches harder, and though he doesn’t really move, he feels like he’s about to lift off his seat and drift into her welcoming embrace.

Eventually, the piece ends, and she casts her gaze over to him.

“What do you think?” she asks in a light tone.

Shuichi’s soul settles back into his body as he stirs to life. He jerks his head back.

“It was incredible!” he tells her. “And you just came up with it? Just like that?”

She inclines her head, maintaining eye contact. “Yes... and no.”

“Huh?”

Kaede rises from the piano and walks over, her heels not making any clicks against the floor as she approaches. He tilts his head back as she occupies more and more of his vision, and when she grabs hold of his wrist, he lets her pull him to his feet. She places his hand over her heart.

Shuichi can’t feel a pulse, but he doesn’t say anything.

“This piece... is my heartbeat when I’m with you,” she says. “When I see your face, or hear your voice, or even just think of you... you create this melody in me.”

A chill shoots through him.

“A-Akamatsu-san...” He stares at her, trembling.

“Saihara-kun.” She squeezes his hand. “I hope you remember this melody.... and you know, I may not seem like it, but I find it hard to let people in. People aren’t like a piece of music, where you know how it begins, progresses and ends. People are unpredictable and discordant. If I’m honest, I have no faith in people at all...”

He scrunches his brow. Her name leaves his mouth in a murmur.

Kaede offers a shrug, features smooth.

“But... you know, I’ve been watching you. When we first met, you were timid and rather passive. It frustrated me because with those sorts of people... it’s hard to get a good gauge of them, especially when they just agree with what you say rather than reflect their own thoughts.” Her eyes seem to glow as she studies him. “As this killing game progresses, though... you’re becoming more sure of yourself, and you shine during the trials. Seeing your growth... and your pursuit of justice... and how you can draw strength from people - no, friends, despite how they are all very different... that has given me hope for the future. So thank you.”

Even though looking at her wrings Shuichi’s heart, he continues to do so.  All those things she said about him... she was the one who inspired him to try to achieve them.  They stand like that for a while, not saying anything, until Kaede presses her lips together firmly.

“Ah, I’ve kept you enough... You don’t want to oversleep, do you?” she asks, and she steps back, still holding onto his hand even as their arms straighten. “Thank you for coming, Saihara-kun. I think I can sleep now...”

“No problem,” he says, and his voice cracks on just two simple words. “I’ll... I’ll keep that song in my heart, I promise.”

She smiles her widest grin yet.

“Thank you,” she says, and she finally lets go of him. Or is it that he finally lets go of her...?

With a heavy heart, he drags himself over to the door, but before he opens it, he pauses and says, “Akamatsu-san...?”

“Hm?”

“Can you tell Amami-kun that I said hi?”

It’s a foolish request, sure, but he doesn’t know what else to say. He doesn’t trust him to say much else.

“I will,” she promises.

Shuichi bites his lip and opens the door. He closes it after himself, leaving behind an empty room.

**Author's Note:**

> for a request


End file.
